Question

An infant is born by vaginal delivery. At birth, the infant is crying and respiration and pulse rate are good. One minute after birth, the baby is noted to have slightly cyanotic extremities. At five minutes after birth, the extremities are pink. The nurse should record the baby's one-minute and five-minute Apgar scores a which of the following?

1. 8 and 9 respectively
2. 8 and 10 respectively
3. 9 and 10 respectively
4. 9 and 7 respectively

Answer 1

The nurse should record the baby's one-minute and five-minute Apgar scores as 8 and 9 respectively. This indicates that the baby's overall condition is normal.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Apgar score is a method used to quickly assess the newborn's physical condition immediately after birth and at the 5-minute mark. It involves evaluating five criteria: appearance (skin color), pulse (heart rate), grimace (reflex), activity (muscle tone), and respiration. Each criterion is assigned a score of 0, 1, or 2, and the scores are added together. In this case, since the baby's extremities were slightly cyanotic at one minute but became pink at five minutes, indicating improvement, the nurse should record the one-minute Apgar score as 8 and the five-minute Apgar score as 9. This indicates that the baby's overall condition is normal.